ACT Work Ready Communities

In May 2016, the Pope County Housing and Redevelopment Authority/Economic Development Administration, in partnership with the Glenwood Lakes Area Chamber & Welcome Center, was selected as one of six recipients of West Central Initiative’s 2016 Competitive Workforce Grant award. The Pope County HRA/EDA received $25,575 for its Pope County Work Ready Communities (WRC) project. “The Pope County HRA-EDA is proud of the collaborative approach to job training and workforce development through the Work Ready Community project,” said Lori Vaadeland, Chair of the Pope County HRA-EDA. “We recognize that this collaborative approach will lead to successful economic development efforts for the entire County.” ​Pope County is working to become the first county in Minnesota to receive national certification by ACT (American College Testing) as a Work Ready Community. The county will leverage the ACT Workkeys National Career Readiness Certificate (NCRC) program to measure and close the skills gap in their county by building a framework to link, align and match their workforce development efforts. “The Glenwood Lakes Area Chamber has a long-term goal to assist our local area employers in recruitment and retention efforts as well as continued life-long learning initiatives. After learning of the WRC program, the Chamber is proud to be leading the effort in the State of Minnesota,” said Scott A. Formo, Sr., Glenwood Lakes Area Chamber Executive Director. “We recognized the significance of this nationally recognized program and took the first steps in reaching out to the Pope County HRA/EDA, Pope County Board of Commissioners, the State of Minnesota Department of Employment & Economic Development (DEED), and the Glenwood Lakes Area Welcome Center to bring this program to the Pope County, creating what we hope will be an outstanding model for other counties in Minnesota as well as the State of Minnesota in recognizing this program throughout the state, furthering the outreach beyond our local area employers. We look forward to the success of this pilot project.”

​The purpose of West Central Initiative’s Competitive Workforce Grant program is to improve the economy of west central Minnesota by providing one year of start-up funding for stakeholders to launch new, promising workforce development strategies.The awardees were chosen because of their capacity to:

Meet the needs of both employers and workers in west central Minnesota;

Allow an organization to stretch and experiment with new ways to address skill shortages in west central Minnesota; and

Test promising approaches likely to result in people securing jobs that pay family-sustaining incomes.

The ACT Work Ready Communities Leadership Team traveled to the ACT WRC Academies during 2016-2017 to receive regional training. The Leadership Team also worked with local area officials, businesses, and organizations in partnership in launching the Pope County ACT WRC initiative and is now working on expanding this project into a regional effort, with Pope County leading the way for the State of Minnesota and providing the training efforts to other counties, in addition to the testing and workforce center opening winter 2018!